New Straits Times - Tropicana Sales Edge Up 62.4 Percent

Firm expects strong performance in next few years after registering a net loss in financial year 2021. Tropicana Corp Bhd can expect a strong performance in the next few years as the property market bounces back.

Tropicana saw its property sales surging 62.4 per cent to RM1.3 billion in the financial year ended Dec 31, 2021, from RM802.4 million in 2020.

In terms of unbilled sales, they were up by 36 per cent to RM1.5 billion, backed by Tropicana's unique residential, commercial and resort-themed developments.

Group managing director Dion Tan said the surge of property sales in 2021 was marked by pent-up demand post-lock-down and gradual economic recovery.

Tan said the market was slowly getting back on its feet, and the company saw a higher pick-up in property transactions before the end of the Home Ownership Campaign.

Despite the strong sales, the company registered a net loss of RM52.17 million during the year, against a net profit of RM91.31 million in financial year 2020.

Its revenue fell 18.15 per cent to RM869.72 million in financial year 2021 from RML06 billion in financiaf year 2020.

This was due to the absence of any disposals during the year, compared with financial year 2020, which saw the disposal of two parcels of freehold development land in Johor Baru for RM157.4 million.

Tropicana said excluding the previous land disposals, last year's revenue would have been higher by RM206.3 million, con-tributed by higher property sales and progress billings across ongoing key projects in the Klang Valley and southern region.

Tropicana said its property development and property management division still performed strongly with a profit of RM77 million for the year, backed by strong sales and cost savings.

For the fourth quarter, Tropicana's net profit fell 83.2 per cent to RM7.94 million from RM47.35 million a year ago.

Its revenue slipped 26.8 per cent to RM263.8 million from RM360.2 million last year.

Tan said overall, Tropicana's total land-bank stood at 992.3ha. with a total potential gross development value of RM152.2 billion.

This placed the company in a good position to unlock the value of its strategic landbank and deliver sustainable earnings in the next few years.